Another Round At The Crow Bar #40 April 2020

ChristinaEngela

4 years ago

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 40th newsletter – April 2020!

In Brief:

What a terrible year the first three months of 2020 have been, right? It’s awful… just awful. To be honest, I had four long-winded paragraphs written about it here – the disease, the chaos, the fake news, the incompetent and even outright malicious politicians… but as I read and re-read it before posting, it just got too much – and too angry, and it devolved into a bit of a rant. So I deleted it.

The truth is, as much as has been done by governments and leaders to save lives, much more could’ve been done and sooner – and wasn’t, or was done too late. Whether there will ever be any kind of reckoning for the irresponsible and cavalier way our lives were risked, endangered or bargained away, is unclear to me at this time. I hope so.

Not that it will undo any of the grievous losses many have endured, assuage the anguish of those who mourn, or soothe the trauma of those affected for life – or ease the untold economic struggles that await all of us post this disaster’s end – but it would be most satisfying to witness.

Frankly, I’m just going to leave this past month’s world news right there, kick some sand on it like a dog, and move on to something more cheerful.

Death – the afterlife, and the paranormal.

No, seriously!

Also, despite all that’s happened in March, I managed to finish and publish one new title. I also finished editing two submissions for a horror anthology for Moon Books Publishing; “Normanwood” by Anya Louw and “Skinwalker” by Cedar J. Lockheart – both local South African writers whose take on horror I’m sure you will enjoy! I also put out another call for more submissions to add to the same volume, in the hope that some of you might put your time in lockdown to more productive use than taking weird photos of faces in wood or cats doing strange things with window blinds!

At this stage I’ve been earmarked as being in the ‘essential services’ group by my employer, so while all you folks are hunkering down in your homes to help avoid catching and spreading this virus, I’ll still be commuting to and from work every work day for the foreseeable future. Considering all that’s happening in the world nowadays, I’m just grateful to still have my job – and my thoughts are with those of you who are worrying about whether life will ever return to normal after this, in terms of restarting work, getting paid, and being able to live like human beings again.

That said, I might not get too much new writing done in the coming weeks – but I will see how it goes as time allows. In the meantime, I really thank those of you who have downloaded and bought my books from various online book sellers – I’ve placed all of them on a reduced price sale on Smashwords to help you pass the time during your various lockdowns!

I hope they skip “April Fool’s Day” this year – I don’t think anything they could think up would be any more bizarre than we’ve already had to deal with just in the first 3 months of 2020 – from a near brush with WW3 in January to the emergence of a new global Plaque and the scourge of fake news pushing conspiracy theory crap and fueling panic and hysteria.

Let’s just wait it out and then sweep the shit bits into the pan when we’re through, okay?

Right – now let’s take a look at this month’s items!

Current Writing Projects

In the past month I worked on and completed the third title in Panic! Horror In Space – which I’ve titled “Dust“! This story is now available via Lulu and Smashwords, and will soon also appear on Amazon and elsewhere.

Publishing

This time I have a little more news regarding publishing – I’ve released more eBook versions of a selection of my titles through Draft2Digital – hopefully this will increase my reach and internet footprint, making them available in places where they aren’t already visible! Click here to view my new profile on there.

“Dust” – book 3 in Panic! Horror In Space was published on March 24, 2020. At a remote starbase, a long-lost ship missing for 63 years mysteriously appears out of the black. There’s no sign of the crew or any clue what happened to them. Plates of food are laid out on tables in the mess, a shower was left running, clothes laid out on beds – it’s like all 57 crewmen just disappeared – or took a walk out an airlock. The ship’s only shuttle is still in the hangar bay, unused and in perfect condition. On the bridge, the throttles are still wide open – indicating the ship had run until it ran out of fuel.

Captain Stuart Flane of the starship Mercury is called in unwillingly, kicking and screaming, to investigate the mystery of the ghost-ship Amundsen – but will his skeptical superiors approve of the outcome?

“Dust” is book three in “Panic! Horror in Space”, a series by Christina Engela.

Audiobooks

I still don’t have much news about the audiobooks at this time, except that the narrator, Nigel Peever has let me know he’s finished with previous commitments and is ready to begin recording “Blachart” this week! Fortunately he works from his studio at home in the UK, so it’s likely he won’t be bothered too much by the pandemic or lockdowns! Hopefully I’ll be able to start listening to the daily recordings soon! I’m just as eager to hear them as you are!

Reviews

“Life Signs” received a glowing review from UK writer and reviewer Lee Hall on March 18!

A trio of enjoyable sci-fi tales filled with mystery, fun and revelations…

“The second entry of Christina Engela’s Panic! Horror in Space series takes the reader on a ride of mystery through three tales of the ghostly, vampiric and even cursed objects; all of which are hazards that come with deep space travel.

Captain Stuart Flane returns to face these perilous situations and has developed a rap for finding trouble of such persuasions. He’s used to dealing with the macabre and that’s what all three of these stories have in common. All of them begin in one place and through the vessel of immersive and readable story telling they end up somewhere completely unexpected.

From poignant to quirky and fun, these stories pretty much cover everything that Engela is known for with a writing style and depth that will draw you in. I particularly enjoyed ‘Lange’s Legacy’ which carried a certain detective vibe while also being full of twists and revelations.

5 stars – A fun read that will appeal to most readers. A thank you to the author for providing a copy in exchange for a review left on Goodreads and Amazon.” – Lee Hall, UK writer & reviewer.

Follow Lee and his activities on Twitter.

Communication

Below are links to a few of my most recent posts on my website since my last newsletter:

“Dust” – a new book in Panic! Horror In Space.
Horror! Another Call For Submissions!
The COVID-19 Reader’s Lockdown Sale
The Isolation Sale
A Plethora Of Books!
Read “Duck Blind” by Christina Engela!
It’s The Big Annual Smashwords Sale!
Another Round At The Crow Bar #39 March 2020

If you want to see more, just click on the category links below:

Elements of Horror
FAQ Answered
Fun Facts
LGBT Heroes
The Tech Side
Secret Weapons of the Resistance
Writing Advice
Newsletters

Anyway, let’s move on to some more news!

Currently Available Titles:

I now have 29 unique titles available in 4 series (not including the 16 free promotional items). You can view all of them on my author website christinaengela.com!

Alternately, you can view my books at Amazon, Smashwords, Lulu, Kobo or Payhip.

On A Personal Note

Fan Mail, Reviews & Honorable Mentions

I found the following items to display in this months issue:

1. Moon Books Publishing has listed most of my books (including the ones I edited) on their website. They’ve set up an author page listing for me too! The books sold from here are also about 99c (US) cheaper than anywhere else!

I display my Fan Mail, Reviews & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You’re always welcome to have a look.

Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

I’ve had nothing exciting in this department over the past month – I must be slipping! Perhaps I need new haters?

1. On March 09, 2020 I received the following comment from this ignoramus who still thinks there are only two genders and that gender is a polarity and not a range.
2. While not hate mail outright, I received the following response to one of my book/series ads on Facebook on Feb 28:

I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review my collection here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking, or you might choke while laughing!